


Paradox

by JulietLin



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dom/sub, F/M, Mildly Dubious Consent, Possessive Tom Riddle, Slow Burn, Teenage Tom Riddle, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-15 13:14:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29314656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JulietLin/pseuds/JulietLin
Summary: Lucy Delamer was in one moment fighting a war in 1998, and in the next she woke up outside Hogwarts in 1943.She tries to blend in and find a way back to her own time, but instead she attracts the attention of none other than Tom Riddle who suspects she is not entirely honest about who she is.I have tagged the story as non-con as there might be some moments with dubious consent, tags will be updated as the story progresses.
Relationships: Tom Riddle/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1: The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This is the second time ever I attempt to write a fanfiction (and the first was when I was like 13), and English is not my first language, so I apologise in advance for any awkward grammar or plot. I will try my best :) -Juliet

2nd of May 1998

Lucy stood together with her fellow peers in the ruins of what had once been the courtyard of Hogwarts. The air sparked with the remains of magic, and tensions were high. She clutched the arm of Luna Lovegood, her peer in Ravenclaw later turned friend. Together they watched as the death eaters walked towards them, led by none other than Lord Voldemort himself.  
“What is it he’s carrying?” Lucy overheard someone whisper.  
She squinted her eyes to look closer, but before she could make out the shapeless form in Voldemort’s arms, he spoke:  
“Harry Potter… is dead!” he said with a raspy laughter, while the death eaters cheered behind him. Luna and Lucy gasped as tears ran down their cheeks. Lucy knew there was no hope to win the war without Harry Potter on their side, and she clenched Luna’s arm as if he pressed hard enough Harry would come back.  
“Nooo!”  
A whirlwind of red hair ran past them, it took a few seconds before Lucy recognised the owner of the voice as her good friend Ginny Weasly. Scared of losing another friend and barely thinking, Lucy ran forward, grabbing Ginny by the arm.  
“Ginny stop, you’ll get yourself killed!” she heard herself scream.  
Thankfully, Ginny did stop, but her sobbing and screams continued. Lucy selfishly wished she’d be quieter as the sounds she made were amongst the worst she had heard in her whole life. As Ginny’s cries continued, she felt chills of terror.  
It was first at this moment Lucy noticed everyone was staring at them, death eaters and students alike. She felt her entire body stiffen except for a tremble in her leg as she noticed the absolute hatred in Voldermort’s eyes that was without doubt directed at her. The only thought in her head was that she now understood why she was not in Gryffindor as what little bravery she had quickly left her body.  
“You…” Voldemort sneered at her.  
“I did not expect to see you here Miss Delamer.”  
Ginny stopped sobbing and looked at Lucy with confusion, but Lucy was equally confused, she did not know how Voldemort knew her name, nor did she have time to reflect over it as he quickly pointed his wand at her.  
“Crucio!”  
Lucy fell to the ground, it felt like every nerve in her body was on fire and anything other than the extreme pain she felt left her brain. She opened her mouth as if to scream, but no sound left. As quickly as it started it was over. Lucy gasped for air while she clutched her chest, while the extreme pain was gone her body still felt horrible. Terrified, she looked up again. Voldemort still had his wand pointed at her, his eyes still flaming with hatred.  
“Avada kedavra,” he shouted, and green light shot out from his wand.  
As soon as the light hit Lucy, the green light disappeared, and instead golden spark flew out from her body. And then everything turned black.

31st of August 1943

Lucy gasped as her eyes shot open and she clutched her head in her hands as if her brain was in danger of leaking out. Her headache was absolutely terrible, but the fact that she could feel anything at all surprised her. She expected that once you died you would no longer feel pain, while she was not particularly religious, a life of horror and war does that to one, she still believed, or at least hoped that there was some form of afterlife. But Lucy did not feel very dead in this moment as she still felt the pain from the recent cruciatus curse on her body, and the other small injuries she gained in the battle were still very much present on her body. Therefore, Lucy concluded that the curse must have missed, and she must have passed out instead.  
Confused and exhausted she tried to make sense of her environment; she was definitely not in the same place as she was as she could feel grass underneath her instead of the rubble she collapsed on earlier. Nor could she see any trace of the courtyard around her. The greatest difference by far was the silence and feeling of peace that surrounded her. There was no screaming or sounds of curses and hexes around her, instead she heard birds singing and the leaves rustling in the wind.  
Lucy turned around in hopes of seeing more of her surroundings, but nothing could have prepared her for what she saw. Hogwarts castle, but without the damages of the war, this was the Hogwarts she remembered from her earliest years.  
The sudden movement of her body and the shock was too much for her in her fragile state, and she quickly passed out again.

As Lucy slowly blinked and came to again, she realised that her environment had changed once more. Instead of being outside she was now clearly within the castle as she stared up on the high stone ceiling. Lucy winced as she attempted to sit up, and specks of light blurred her vision.  
“Be careful Miss!”  
She turned around towards the direction of the sound. The owner of the voice was a young woman wearing what Lucy recognised as the matron uniform. Her face looked somewhat familiar, but Lucy was too tired to remember where she could have seen her before.  
“Now, maybe you could be as kind as to tell us who you are and why you were lying on the grass outside,” a calm familiar voice asked.  
Lucy quickly looked towards the source of the sound, as was met by the sight of Albus Dumbledore, only this Dumbledore was much younger and instead of the familiar white long hair and beard, this man had auburn hair. It took a few seconds before Lucy realised she was crying at the sight of him. She quickly collected herself, and answered:  
“To be honest I am not quite sure where I am or what is happening,” she vaguely answered. Lucy had already been feeling dizzy when she woke up, but now she was extremely confused and wanted nothing more than to wake up from whatever dream this was. She was extremely happy to see her old headmaster alive again, but she had started to get a sinking suspicion of what might have happened.  
“Could I speak with you in private?” Lucy asked. She had never been particularly close to Professor Dumbledore, but she knew if there was anyone she could trust it would be him.  
Dumbledore nodded, and the matron quickly gathered her things and went into her office.  
“Don’t keep her from resting too long, Dumbledore,” the matron said before she shut the door, leaving Lucy alone with her former headmaster.  
“W-what year is it?” Lucy asked shakingly, not sure if she actually wanted to know the answer.  
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at her but did not immediately start accusing her of being mad, which made Lucy relax ever so slightly.  
“The date is 1st of September 1943,” answered Dumbledore, looking at her curiously. “What year are you from?”  
“1998…” Lucy whispered. She knew it was not the brightest idea to tell anyone she was from the future if she had indeed travelled back in time, but she had needed to confirm where, or in this case, when she was. And if there was anything she had learned from the war it was that you always needed an ally on your side.  
Dumbledore seemed surprisingly calm at her declaration of being a time traveller, albeit a bit curious.  
“Who are you, and why are you here?” he asked her, but quickly added, “try not to give too much detail of the future.”  
Lucy hesitated before she answered, she considered creating a fake name and story, but she did not want to ruin her only chance at acquiring an ally by being untruthful.  
“My name is Lucille Delamer, I’m 17 years old, though I guess that means I would be -39 years now,” she quietly laughed at her own joke before continuing, “I was attending my sixth year of Hogwarts before… it was interrupted by war… And to be frank I have no clue why I am here. Last I remember is… being attacked, and then I woke up here, it’s all a bit foggy”.  
Lucy clearly remembered what curse had been directed at her and the green flash following it, but for now she did not feel quite ready to share that detail. So far, the only person she knew that had survived the killing curse was Harry Potter, but he had survived because of the love of his mother, and he had also not been displaced in time.  
Dumbledore looked at her as if she was a puzzle to be solved, though she realised that was exactly what she must be.  
“I would like to keep a close eye on you for now, so we can figure out why you were sent back here,” Dumbledore started to say, “I will inform the headmaster that we have received a new transfer student. We will say you were a student from Beauxbatons, but you wanted to finish your magical education in Great Britain as you are originally British, that way no one will question your lack of a French accent”.  
Lucy nodded, she agreed that the best way to stay safe and learn more about her mysterious time displacement would be to stay at Hogwarts. And as a student she would also blend in and not draw any attention to herself.  
“I will task you to create a convincing backstory for yourself, I would recommend using as much truth as you can and only change details, that way it will sound more believable,” said Dumbledore. “I am sure Professor Dippet will want to meet with you himself soon, so try to rest and regain some strength before that.”  
Lucy still had many burning questions on her mind, but she knew there was little point in arguing with Dumbledore. Given her current state she also did not trust herself to not overshare about the future, however, one question she could not help but ask:  
“Do tell me sir, is there any danger of me changing the future with my behaviour here?”  
While Lucy would certainly not mind preventing the war from happening, she did not want to accidentally make Voldemort raise to power earlier. That reminded her, Voldemort used to attend Hogwarts too, was there any chance of her running into him here? She shuddered at the thought.  
“Some points are fixed in time, while others can be changed,” Dumbledore started to explain, “so your behaviour can in theory change the future, but it might also be so that you have always been supposed to come back here, and the future you know only happened because you did certain actions to change the future. One theory states that whatever change you do in the past, the future will never change because you were always supposed to make that change. But again, it is just a theory. I suggest we both do some reading upon this topic, and I will contact some acquaintances of mine that happened to be experts on the topic of time travel.  
Lucy listened eagerly, after all she was a Ravenclaw so her interest was piqued by the theories of time travel, and she noted for herself to check out the library as soon as she felt better. Suddenly the truth of situation settled on her, she was in the middle of a war, she needed to go back to her friends and help them defeat Voldemort.  
“Is there any way for me to travel back to my own time?” she asked hopefully, despite knowing fully well there were no known cases of witches and wizards travelling forwards in time.  
Dumbledore looked at her with sadness in his eyes.  
“I will look into that,” he said, Lucy appreciated that he left the answer vague as to not completely demoralise her.  
“In any case,” Dumbledore started, “I would recommend you to try and keep a low profile until we know more. But now, get some rest.”  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
The next morning Lucy finally started to feel more like herself, in fact with all the medicines and food she had gotten from the matron she felt better than she in the past months at Hogwarts under the regime of the death eaters.  
Considering the clothes she had arrived in was the tattered remains of her school uniform, Dumbledore had been as kind as to give her a new uniform she could wear for her meeting with Professor Dippet, whom she remembered from Hogwarts: a History was the current headmaster of the school. She quietly noted that her borrowed uniform bore no sign of any specific house, and she wondered how to let Professor Dippet know she was a Ravenclaw without making him suspicious.  
Lucy followed after Professor Dumbledore, and eventually they reached what she recognised as the headmaster’s office. She had never been to the office while Dumbledore was headmaster, but she had seen Harry go there.  
Dumbledore knocked on the door, and a muffled invitation to enter could be heard through the door. Dumbledoor entered first and held the door open for Lucy, who suddenly felt quite nervous.  
“Ah, you must be Miss Delamer, our first ever transfer student! Welcome, welcome.” Professor Dippet exclaimed with a smile, he seemed quite enthuastic over the idea of new student. “We have a little bit of paper work that needs to be sorted before you can settle in, but do not worry, it will be quite quick.”  
Professor Dippet pulled out a few pieces of paper.  
“I need you to pick and register for your subjects. I know you do it differently at Beauxbatons, but here at Hogwarts the 6th and 7th year students are currently preparing for the N.E.W.T.s where most students are focusing on a few N.E.W.T subjects,” he explained.  
Lucy looked at the sheet of paper. She knew most students picked just a few subjects, and while she considered choosing the bare minimum, she ended up circling most of the options skipping only muggle studies, she also noted care of magical creature was not an option. It would give her an excuse to constantly be busy and hide in the library to draw less attention to herself, a small part of her also hoped she would pick up some useful information on her current situation in one of the classes. And she could always drop some of the subjects later if it was too much. Hesitating for a second, she also circled music as an extra-curricular subject, she figured she should try to have a little bit of fun too.  
“Impressive,” chuckled Professor Dippet. “There is only one other student who has as many subjects as you.”  
He reached into his shelf and pulled out a tattered old hat that Lucy recognised as the sorting hat.  
“Now it only remains to sort you into a house,” Professor Dippet said, “Hogwarts has four houses, Gryffindoor, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw. Your house will be your family while you stay here, considering you will only be here for 2 years your house does not matter that much. The younger years have classes together with their house, but you will have classes based on subjects instead.”  
Professor Dippet handed Lucy the old hat, and she nervously put it on her head. It had been over 5 years since she had last done this, she appreciated the lack of an audience this time.  
“Hmm, “ the hat started, “It’s been a long time since I saw inside your head, or should I say, it’s a long time until I will see inside your head.”  
“How do you know that!” Lucy exclaimed in her thoughts.  
“I’m a hat, I’m not limited by the same linear structure of time you humans need,” the hat answered. Which was a fair enough answer for Lucy.  
“Please sort me into Ravenclaw!” she thought intensely.  
“Hmm, yes, you have the potential to do it well in Ravenclaw,” the hat said, “But you are different this time, you could also do well in some of the other houses. There is a certain new darkness to you that you would do well to explore in…”  
“Slytherin!” the hat said out loud. Lucy gasped out of surprised and pulled the hat of her head, she looked at it with disbelief. She did not feel any darkness within herself, and she was frankly a bit insulted about what the hat had insinuated about her.  
Dumbledore looked at her with a raised eyebrow and seemed almost amused by the new development.  
Lucy opened her mouth to complain about how the hat must be wrong, but before she could get a word out she was interrupted by a knock on the door.  
“Professor Dippet I wanted to talk to you about…” a soft but deep voice started, but owner quickly stopped once he noticed he was not alone with the headmaster. Lucy looked curiously at the man, whom she assumed was around her own age. There was something strangely familiar about him, but she could not place him at all, which was surprising. She would have thought she would have rembered someone as handsome as he.  
“Ah, perfect timing Mr. Riddle,” said Professor Dippet. “Miss Delamer here is the newest addition to the Slytherin house, she is a transfer student from Beauxbatons. As prefect of Slytherin, would you be as kind as to give her a tour of the castle before the rest of the students arrive?”  
Riddle looked at Lucy curiously, he had never heard of any students transferring to Hogwarts before. Meanwhile Lucy tried to remember why the name Riddle was so familiar, and then it hit her like an avalanche. Tom Riddle. Voldemort before he became Voldemort. She felt her blood freeze and wanted nothing more than to disappear from the room this very instant. Rationally she knew she must act like nothing was wrong, lest Tom Riddle would become suspicious, and she could not risk him learning of her secret. She did not know if the war was one of the fixed points in time Dumbledore had mentioned, but she would not risk giving Voldemort any advantage by letting him know the future.  
Lucy took a breath and cleared her mind, setting up a few mental shields just in case. She was by no means talented at occlumency, but she had practiced the basics together with Ginny and Luna after the death eaters infiltrated Hogwarts. Currently, Tom Riddle did not seem interested in investigating her mind, which Lucy was very grateful for, she doubted she could keep the shields up for more than a few seconds at most if he tried legilimency at her.  
Putting up a blank expression on her face she walked over to Tom Riddle, reaching out to shake his hand.  
“I’m Lucy Delamer, nice to meet you,” she said, forcing a friendly smile that did not quite reach her eyes.  
“Tom Riddle, likewise,” he said, looking into his face Lucy struggled to see how this man would become Lord Voldemort in the future.  
Lucy suddenly cried out, and quickly took her hand back as a few weak golden sparks seemed to come out from their handshake. The second her hand had touched Riddle’s it felt as if she had burned herself, and as she looked to Riddle she could see he frowned at her while rubbing the spot on his hand that had been in contact with her.  
Professor Dumbledore and Professor Dippet looked at them curiously, especially Dumbledore seemed to already ponder deeply on what had just happened.  
“Now, you two should start your tour if plan to finish before the sorting ceremony,” said Professor Dippet, breaking the silence and flicking his wand to open the doors to the hallway.  
“Of course, please follow me Miss Delamer,” Riddle said with a smile Lucy thought seemed incredibly fake, but Professor Dippet did not seem to notice anything.  
Lucy took a deep breath and started walking behind Tom Riddle, casting a last glance back into the office as if to plead for Dumbledore to intervene and not leave her alone with the future dark lord. However, Dumbledore whilst suspicious, did not know anything was wrong with the male student, and he turned back to Professor Dippet while the doors closed between them. Leaving Lucy alone with Tom Riddle in the empty hallway.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A thank you to all of you who are reading my work! :)
> 
> This chapter is a little bit shorter than the first one, as this one is about 2K words. Let me know in the comments if you prefer more frequent, but slightly shorter chapters, or longer but less frequent uploads.

Tom was not very pleased with the task of showing the new student around. Her and Dumbledore’s presence had gotten in the way of him talking to Professor Dippet, and Tom did not like people who got in his way. During the summer he had worked on his plans for recruiting more followers, and an essential step was convincing Dippet to let him teach at Hogwarts. It would be a lot easier to manipulate and shape the minds of the students if he could consistently influence them from a young age. For now he had to keep up his “perfect student”-act and keep Dumbledore from becoming more suspicious. The transfiguration teacher had always kept a close on eye on him, and it had only gotten worse after the incidents with the chamber of secrets last year.  
Meanwhile Lucy walked behind Riddle and could not stop thinking about how much suffering she could spare the people in the future if she just shoved him down the stairs right this moment. Her initial fear was starting to disappear as she rationally knew he would not try to hurt her now, as that would be too risky for his reputation. Instead her fear was replaced by barely concealed anger, as the war was still fresh in her mind. She felt a pair of eyes on her, and she suddenly realised Tom had been speaking to her, and he seemed to expect an answer.  
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” she said, feeling a strange mix of anger and embarrassment that she did not quite succeed to keep out of her voice. Tom raised an eyebrow at her aggressive tone.  
“I only asked if you had a pleasant summer break,” answered Tom, as he sent her a charming smile.  
Lucy remembered Harry had talked about how Tom charmed everyone at Hogwarts during his time as a student and seeing it first-hand she admitted to herself that she probably would have fallen for it too had she not known who he would become. However, she remembered his adult version all too well, and she just raised an eyebrow at him, much to Tom’s surprise. He was not used to this reaction from girls.  
“It was uneventful,” lied Lucy, finally regaining some control of her voice and emotions.   
“Really? I would have thought moving countries would be quite… eventful,” said Tom with a sly glint in his eyes, pushing Lucy for a more descriptive answer.   
“Perhaps, but nothing that would make for interesting conversation,” Lucy carefully answered, suddenly grateful for the constant mind games her Ravenclaw peers would ambush her with at all times. She had learned how to guard her tongue when talking.   
“Did your family wish for you to attend the same school as them?” Tom questioned, not happy with the vague answers he were getting.  
Lucy was slightly impressed by his question, asking both for her blood status and heritage while challenging her to justify transferring schools.   
“I don’t know what my family would have wanted, I never met them,” said Lucy truthfully, hoping this one truth would keep Riddle satisfied from prying more. She wondered if she were imagining things as she saw a quick flicker of emotion over Riddle’s face. Then she remembered what Harry had told her last year, about Tom Riddle growing up in an orphanage. She felt a pang of sympathy for the boy in front of her, as she exactly what that was like.   
Lucy decided that the best way to avoid further interrogation was to pretend Riddle’s charms worked, and she continued:  
“Both my parents died in the war,” she admitted. It would sound convincing as it was the truth, and it would still be reasonable given the current situation with Grindlewald. She also did not mind sharing that particular piece of information as it would have gotten out at one point or another anyways, and part of her hoped Riddle would spread it so she would not have to do it herself.   
Tom was surprised at how quickly she opened up given her initial reluctance to talk to him. If he did not know any better, he would have thought she disliked him, but that would be unreasonable given that they just met. Though he did note that she was still closely guarding any emotion or weakness from showing on her face, so he guessed he had not completely cracked her yet. Tom figured he would have her wrapped around his finger like the rest of the school before the end of the day at this rate. But first he wanted one burning question answered:  
“So why did you transfer to Hogwarts,” he asked with a smile.  
Lucy sighed, apparently Riddle’s curiosity was not as satisfied as she had hoped.   
“Why don’t you mind your own business,” snapped Lucy, her anger having flared up again.  
Tom stared at her with amusement in his eyes. While he enjoyed how the other students were easily manipulated, he realised it would be a lot more satisfying to force her into doing and telling him what he wanted. The change in his body language did not go unnoticed by Lucy who quickly regretted her outburst. The last thing she wanted was to have a young Voldemort paying any attention to her. 

Lucy had never been so glad to have reached the Great Hall before, she would be a lot more comfortable once she was surrounded by the rest of the student body and she could put some distance between herself and Riddle.  
“Thank you for the tour, Riddle,” said Lucy, forcing a polite smile.   
“My pleasure, Miss Delamer,” smiled Riddle, a smile that did not reach his eyes noted Lucy. She walked towards the Ravenclaw table by pure habit, but Riddle stopped her.  
“Ah, I meant to ask, what house are you in?” he asked.  
“R-, I mean, Slytherin,” said Lucy, quickly correcting herself, mentally scolding herself for not staying alert enough.   
“Wonderful,” responded Riddle, with a genuine, yet not friendly, smile. He put a hand on Lucy’s upper back and started leading her towards the Slytherin table. Lucy felt the hairs on her body rise, but she forced a blank expression. She wanted nothing more than to turn and run away, but that would only make Riddle more suspicious. After all it would seem unnatural for her to have such strong negative feelings for someone she had just met.   
Lucy never thought she would be grateful for reaching the Slytherin table, but right now anything was better than spending a second more alone with Tom Riddle. She shook his hand of her back and sat down on an empty spot between two others, specifically so Riddle could not sit down next to her. While she hoped it would seem like natural behaviour, his frown in her direction told her otherwise. Lucy hoped he would forget this small insult over the course of the meal and focused instead on the two men she had sat down in-between who were staring at her rather curiously.   
“Hi, my name is Lucy, Lucy Delamer,” she smiled as she introduced herself, using what little courage she had to make her voice sound as confident and natural as possible.  
The man on her left, which vaguely reminded her of Draco Malfoy, was the first one to respond to her.   
“Nice to meet you, I’m Abraxas Malfoy,” he said, shaking her hand, before continuing:  
“If you don’t mind me asking, who are you? I don’t think I have seen you around before.”  
“I just transferred to Hogwarts this year, I’m from France, but I wanted to do my N.E.W.T.s in Britain” explained Lucy, hoping he would be less inclined to interrogate her than Riddle. She seemed to be luckier now, as Malfoy did not seem suspicious at all, in fact he seemed rather pleased with the idea of a new house member.  
“Does that mean you’re in year 6? Then we’d be in the same year, what’s your subject schedule like?” he asked, being more friendly than Lucy thought was possible for a Malfoy. She found it hard to believe that this was Lucius Malfoy’s father.  
She handed him his timetable, hoping that they would have some courses together as he seemed like a potential friend, which she desperately needed if she was going to continue avoiding Tom Riddle.  
“Wow, you take a lot of classes for a girl,” commented Malfoy.  
Lucy opener her mouth ready to argue, but she quickly closed it again as she remembered this was a different time than she was used to. In the 1940’s a witch’s biggest ambition was to secure a husband. She forced a smile and replied:  
“Well, Slytherin is the house for ambition is it not? So it can’t be too unusual with women wanting to achieve something too.”  
Malfoy and the others around them looked weirdly at her, so Lucy assumed it was in fact, quite uncommon for women to focus on their education in this period.   
“Let me look at your schedule,” Riddle suddenly asked, though Lucy thought it sounded more like a command than a question. She never got a chance to object either, as Malfoy had already passed her timetable to him.  
“Fascinating, we have exactly the same classes, Miss Delamer,” he said to her with a smile. “I guess we will be seeing a lot of each other this year.”   
“Not if I can help it,” Lucy thought, before the sudden silence of her table neighbours alerted her that she uttered it out loud. She felt the heat rise in her cheeks, and she quickly stared down at her plate. She really needed to learn how to keep her quick comments to herself.   
“Do tell me, what have I done to earn your dislike so quickly?” asked Riddle with a polite, but humourless laughter.   
Lucy realised she was doing terrible so far with her plan to go unnoticed.   
“Oh I’m so sorry, please excuse my terrible manners, I’m just tired after my travels, it has nothing to do with you” she apologised with a sweet smile, focusing all her magic on her voice and words. It seemed to work on Malfoy and the others on the table who no longer stared at her, but instead resumed normal dinner conversation. Riddle on the hand had noticed that something was off, but he seemed too confused to put his finger on exactly what. He scowled at Lucy, giving her a stare that told her that he would find out what she had just done. Lucy was disappointed, but not surprised, that the trick was less effective on him. She would have to work on improving it soon, but she knew it was a less common form of magic and there was not a lot of resources available for her. She sighed, and joined in on the mundane dinner conversation, pushing her worries regarding Riddle to the back of her mind.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm planning to update this story every two days, seeing as I don't really have much to do during the this lock-down :) -Juliet

After successfully keeping a low-profile during dinner, Lucy followed after the other slytherins towards the dungeouns, casting a longing look after the ravenclaws, wishing she could have gone to her old dormitories. While the Ravenclaw common room and bedrooms were up in the towers and hence airy and filled with light, the Slytherin common room was deep in the dungeons and felt dark and claustrophobic to Lucy. The students reached a seemingly normal stone wall.  
“Crespuculum,” said a female prefect that Lucy did not recognise.  
The stone wall moved aside with a deep rumble, revealing a hidden passage.   
When Lucy was inside the Slytherin Common Room she could not help but admit that the common room was quite cosy. The room was low and long, with large windows on the walls giving the students a clear view of the lake, she could see a couple of fish staring back at the students. The walls of the room were covered in shelves, some containing books, other containing strange artifacts that Lucy did not recognise. There were also a couple fire places with some comfy-looking carved chairs scattered around them. Lucy had expected the room to be cold and unfriendly, but she was for once happy to be mistaken given that she would spend a lot of time here until she could get back home.  
The female prefect walked up to Lucy, extending an arm.  
“I’m Jasmine Parkinson and I’m one of the prefects for Slytherin” she introduced herself as. Lucy was not surprised to learn that she was related to Pansy, as the two girls looked very similar.  
“Follow me, and I’ll show you to your room. Sixth years have double rooms, so you’ll only share with one other girl.”  
Lucy followed Jasmine through a corridor walking past many doors, until Jasmine stopped, pointed at a door, and left quickly after, leaving Lucy alone in the corridor. She walked inside and was greeted by the sight of a girl with long blonde hair. The girl shot a friendly smile in Lucy’s direction when she noticed her walking in.  
“Nice to meet you, I’m Rosemary Greengrass,” she said. “I’m glad to know I won’t be alone this year after all.”  
“Me too,” smiled Lucy, and she meant it. While she had always been a bit sceptical of slytherins due to their death eater ties, she did not like being alone. And in this time death eaters did not yet exist, she reminded herself of.   
“Where is your luggage?” Rosemary asked, motioning to the empty space next to the other bed.   
“Moving here was a las minute decision due to the war,” said Lucy, not too untruthfully. “I didn’t have time to pack my stuff.”  
Rosemary shot her a sympathetic look.  
“Let me know if you ever need anything!”  
“Thank you,” Lucy smiled. She made a mental note to herself to go to the Room of Requirements and conjure up some clothes and essentials later. Right now she wanted nothing more than to get some rest, as the past two days had been hectic for her. Her use of charmspeak magic earlier had also drained her energy to a much greater extent than she was willing to admit.  
She lied down on her bed, deciding to just sleep in her school uniform until she could get some proper clothes. While she could finally rest her body, her mind was still running as quickly as ever, and now that the initial shock over her situation had cleared, her memories of the battle became clearer in her mind.  
She felt tears run down her cheek as she saw all the faces of those who had died, people who had gone to school with her for years were now gone forever. And Harry. The memory of Hagrid holding his limp body was forever ingrained in her head. She curled up in her bed, hugging her knees as she cried silently, mourning her losses, and worrying about those she had left behind. Soon the exhaustion hit her, and Lucy fell into a restless sleep.

Lucy woke up with a gasp, realising she was drenched in sweat and tangled in her sheets. She could barely remember anything from her nightmare except the flashes of green light that haunted her. Looking around the room she noticed she was surrounded by darkness. Lucy reached for her wand and flicked it to show the time, it was just past midnight. She groaned. Not feeling particularly ready to go back to sleep and have another nightmare she carefully stepped out of bed, quietly as to not wake her roommate.   
The silence in the dorm was suffocating. Lucy was surprised that not more students were awake catching up with her friends, but she was grateful to be able to sneak out of the common room without anyone noticing.   
“Lumos,” she whispered. The tip of her wand lighting up, giving her some vision through the dark room. Lucy was not particularly interested in crashing into any furniture and alerting her housemates of her presence. Carefully manoeuvring through the empty room she eventually reached the exit.  
Lucy had gotten skilled at sneaking around the castle at night. In her early years at Hogwarts Ginny had eagerly dragged Lucy around after curfew, showing her all the secret rooms and passages she had heard about from her older brothers. Recently, her and the other members of Dumbledore’s Army who had gone into hiding from the death eaters would have to take turns gathering food from the kitchen at night, as the Room of Requirement could not conjure up food. Lucy hated being on food duty as the thought of being caught was a major source of anxiety for her, she was terrified receiving the Carrow siblings’ brutal punishments.   
She found herself taking the familiar route to the 7th floor corridor, instinctually checking around each corner carefully before turning. Despite her attempts at being alert and careful, she did in fact not notice that she was being followed.  
Once she reached the 7th floor and found the familiar tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy teaching ballet to trolls, she walked back and forth simply wishing for something familiar. Lucy was very happy to see the door appearing and she quickly slipped inside the room.  
She was surprised to see an exact replica of the sanctuary she had been hiding in for the past months. They had all been very impressed by Neville’s construction of the hideout, made extra safe by him making it unavailable to anyone who supported the opposing side. While her last year at Hogwarts had been an extremely rough time, the last few months in hiding had simultaneously been the best and worst time of her life. She was grateful for knowing most of her friends were safe inside, and for them all being together, but it had been mentally draining constantly keeping alert for any sign of discovery. Not to mention them all sitting around the radio all day, praying to not hear any loved ones’ name be amongst the list of dead or missing. Lucy and Ginny had been especially anxious for Harry, Ron, and Hermione. While neither of them knew exactly what the golden trio were hoping to achieve, Ginny had picked up on them mentioning horcruxes. Lucy had never heard that word before, and despite the Room of Requirements’ unlimited library, she had not yet figured out what it meant.  
Lucy walked over to the corner that she once had shared with Luna and Ginny, and started crying once more, her heart aching as she missed her friends. This time she sobbed loudly as she did not need to worry about waking Rosemary. After crying out for a bit, she felt a lot better, and she dried her eyes with the sleeve of her robe. She swore to herself to find a way back home and help her friends win the war. Then a realization hit her, this was a unique opportunity to observe Voldemort up close and learning his strengths and weaknesses. She also knew the horcruxes were a key to defeating him, otherwise Harry, Ron and Hermione would not waste time searching for them. Hopefully observing Tom Riddle would help her gain information she could use to help the trio find whatever they needed. With a regained sense of purpose, Lucy once again fell asleep, this time she slept soundly through the night.

Tom Riddle had been doing his usual prefect rounds around the castle when he noticed the new girl running through the corridors. He considered confronting her directly, demanding she tell him why she is out of bed so late, and also how she seemingly knew her way around the castle so well. However, his curiosity got the best of him, and he hid himself in the shadows as he quietly followed the petite brunette through her seemingly determined journey through the castle.   
He had to admit he was surprised to find himself in the 7th floor corridor, and he felt his anger flare up as he realised she was summoning the hidden room. Tom had been immensely proud of being the only student to know of the room on the 7th floor corridor that contained whatever he wanted it to, and he could not believe that a student who had only been at Hogwarts for a few days could find it with such ease.   
Once Delamer had slipped inside the room and the door had faded, Tom stepped out of the shadows. Annoyed, he walked aggressively back and forth 3 times, wishing to gain access to the room she was in. His already sour mood worsened as no door appeared. He tried summoning the room once more, specifying his wish to be finding Lucy Delamer, but the door still refused to appear. Frustrated, he left the corridor none the wiser.  
Tom Riddle did not like not knowing, and he was not happy with how the transfer student had left him confused for the second time in one day. He would have to pay closer attention to her, and if she posed any threat, he would have to get rid of her.


End file.
